Richard Trudgen and Djiniyini Gondarra talk about the search by Balanda and others around the world for valuable items that could be used as a form of money when trading.

Across the world different things were used, such as cowrie shells, pearls, gold, silver and tin. Plaited tobacco was also used as money world-wide. Tobacco was used as money in the USA where in some states it was even recognised by the government as legal tender. In Australia missionaries also traded using plaited tobacco as money. They used tobacco to pay Yolngu workers and to purchase things from Yolngu.

Traditional trading items like märrŋu bolka possum fur were seen as very valuable by Yolngu. Also turtle shells, stone pestles for grinding nuts from cycad palms to make traditional bread, and flint spearheads were considered important and used as trade items under Madayin law. Red ochre and beeswax were also very valuable as they were used for fixing spearheads and mending things.

Produced by Aboriginal Resource and Development Services (ARDS) 2007